Workshop aims to help parents of kids with Asperger's syndrome

LANSDALE — When the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is released in May, Asperger’ssyndrome will be gone, which means no one will officially be diagnosed with the condition.Rather, it will be recategorized under the umbrella term of “autism spectrum disorders.”

This adds more questions for the parents of children with Asperger’s, who are often struggling to find the best ways to help them.

In a workshop titled “A Pathway to Success for Students with Social Skill Needs” at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at the North Penn Educational Services Center, Ryan Wexelblatt, MSS, will provide parents with the tools needed to help their children improve their social skills.

Asperger’ssyndrome, sometimes called high-functioning autism, is a developmental disorder that affects a person’s ability to socialize and communicate effectively with others. Children with Asperger’s syndrome typically struggle with social awkwardness and an all-absorbing interest in specific topics, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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Wexelblatt is the founder and director of the Sequoia Kids Program and Camp Sequoia in Pennsburg, an overnight camp program for children needing social skills development.He teaches how to prioritize the needs of children who need help developing social skills, which involves things such as eye contact during conversation and shaking hands, and the importance of social cognition, which is how to think in a social context.

Those with Asperger’s “have difficulty with perspective and how they come across to other people,” Wexelblatt said. “They have trouble understanding that other people have different thoughts and intentions than they do.”

Wexelblatt said he aims to give kids the big picture on how to frame and interpret social situations, and part of that is equipping parents with strategies they can use at home.

“How to successfully relate to other people your age is what I consider to be the most important life skill,” Wexelblatt said. “Traditional approaches to teaching social skills focus on rote memorization of appropriate social skills. Instead, what we need to focus on is teaching students how to think in a social context so they can be successful in peer groups and academic groups.”

It’s important to learn how to navigate social situations early in life, Wexelblatt said, because “as you get older, social expectations increase and also become more abstract. It gets harder.”

Children with Asperger’s tend to be socially isolated, and are drawn to younger children, who they find it easier to relate to, or adults, but may avoid interactions with their peers.

After looking for a program to help his own son, who is now 15, and finding nothing, Wexelblatt started Camp Sequoia, a three-tosix-week overnight camp located in Pennsburg for boys who need help with social functioning.

At camp, the boys learn how their own social minds work, how their behaviors affect the way others perceive and respond to them; and how this affects their own emotions, responses and relationships with others, Wexelblatt said.

His workshop is presented by the North Penn Special Education Council, which provides educational and networking opportunities to parents and caregivers of children with learning and/or physical differences within the North Penn School District community.

“We encourage all parents who feel their children may need assistance in learning how to navigate socially to attend,” said Debbie Slavutsky, board member of the North Penn Parents Special Education Council. “Our goal is to have parents learn practical information they can use at home.”